Want Blonde Hair This Summer? Here's How to Get It

If you're looking to lighten up your hair color this summer, then you came to the right place. We asked Kyle White, celebrity hair colorist at the Oscar Blandi Salon in NYC, just how to get those coveted sun-kissed strands at home.

Naturally Lighten
Up Your Locks

Naturally Lighten
Up Your Locks

There are a few ways you can lighten up your hair naturally:

1. Apply lemon juice to your hair before going outside on a sunny day (don't forget to apply SPF all over before heading outdoors). Just note—if you have dark hair this will leave you with caramel highlights, not bright blonde. How does it work? Lemon juice is a citric acid. When it heats up in the sun, it opens up the cuticle and the pigment is lifted out of the hair. You can also mix orange and lemon juice together for a more golden highlight.

2. Sun-In Spray-In Hair Lightener with Lemon, $3.83, amazon.com, also works if you already have light hair.

3. Lemon vodka can also lighten up your strands when you're in the sun. The citric acid and alcohol it contains strips the color of the strands it's applied to.

Go for an At-Home Kit

Go for an At-Home Kit

If your hair is on the darker side and you're looking to add highlights, opt for a DIY box kit.

To use an at-home highlighting kit, like Garnier Nutrisse Nourishing Multi-Lights Highlighting Kit, $7.59, amazon.com, part your hair how you would normally wear it and paint the bleach onto strands along the top layer of hair and around your face. That's where the sun naturally hits your hair.

If you're dark blonde, highlighting kits work perfectly to give you sun-kissed strands; if you have medium to dark brown hair, expect your streaks to be golden brown.